East Africa
Kenya Launches 2050 Calculator to Advance Climate Change Mitigation in East Africa
Kenya’s Ministry of Energy, the British High Commission Nairobi, and Strathmore University have jointly launched the Kenya Carbon Emission Reduction Tool (KCERT 2050), a bespoke energy and emissions model to assist Kenya in achieving its climate goals.
The interactive energy model – the first in East Africa – was delivered under the UK Government’s international 2050 Calculator programme, which is funded by the UK’s International Climate Finance, and led by global engineering, management and development consultancy, Mott MacDonald, and a consortium which includes Imperial College London, Climact and Ricardo.
KCERT 2050 allows users to trial options for reducing climate change-inducing carbon emissions at a faster rate and to build a pathway that meets long-term emission targets to 2050 and beyond. It can be used to support policy-making to allow governments to increase national action on climate change and strengthen ambition in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
KCERT 2050 will play a key role in helping policy-makers, energy producers and consumers, including the public, in Kenya to understand the energy and emissions related choices they are making. It also provides a platform for engaging in dialogues on the challenges and opportunities of the future energy system and the responses to climate change. The project gives Kenya the opportunity to pioneer climate mitigation approaches across the East African region.
H.E Jane Marriott British High Commissioner to Kenya said: “As part of strengthening our UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership on climate action, the British High Commission welcomes the launch of the Kenya Carbon Emissions Reduction Tool 2050. This tool, which is a first in East Africa, will support government departments in Kenya to design and deliver evidence based, inclusive policies on emissions reductions, energy access, and matching energy supply and demand. I look forward to Kenya acting as a pioneer in championing the use of this innovative tool that will provide options for implementing Kenya’s emission reduction strategies and achieving net-zero development pathways by 2050.”
In his remarks, the Principal Secretary Ministry of Energy, Maj. Gen (Rtd). Dr. Gordon Kihalangwa noted that, “Energy is about security, about development, but if we use it badly, it will affect us negatively. Kenya has complied with the Paris Agreement by submitting a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). A country like this is privileged to use renewables, and the tool will help us work out how we will get to net-zero by 2050. This KCERT 2050 will be used to support the reduction of emissions and create resilience to climate change in the energy sector in Kenya.”
Dr John Olukuru, Head of Data Science and Analytics at Strathmore University and Lead KCERT Modeller added: “The KCERT 2050 is an important data driven policy making tool in climate change. It will help every Kenyan, expert or non-expert, to engage in a well-informed climate change debate. The calculator considers all sectors, stakeholders’ input and various scenarios that provide enormous volume of data and hence sets a foundation to applying AI and machine learning to monitor and decrease carbon emissions, streamline operations to empower every policy maker to recognize that climate action provides an opportunity to create value by tapping into new markets and meeting growing demand for low-carbon plus greener services.
David Orr, Emerging Markets Trade and Investment Lead for Mott MacDonald and Programme Country Manager for Kenya, noted: “It has been such a pleasure working with the team to build the KCERT 2050 tool. Over the coming years, the tool will play a core role in advancing Kenya’s net zero transition, inspiring policy-makers across East Africa.”
Dr Onesmus Mwabonje, a Research Fellow at Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy and core member of the Consortium team for Kenya, added: “KCERT will support and stimulate the decarbonisation debate in Kenya, helping to break down silos and generate the consensus across government departments needed to effectively combat, mitigate and adapt to climate change. The decision support capacity that the International 2050 Calculator programme has developed on the modelling of complex transitions and technological options will have a lasting impact in the country and beyond.”
The KCERT is available at http://kcert.ilabafrica.ac.ke/
Microsoft’s #Insiders4Good Program in East Africa
Microsoft’s Windows Insiders Program is a global community of over 7 million people using technology to make a lasting impact on the world through meaningful relationships with people around the world. As part of Windows Insiders, we launched the #Insiders4Good Fellowship in Nigeria, which seeks to find leaders in local communities who are actively and creatively solving problems. We are very excited to expand the #Insiders4Good Fellowship to East Africa and are seeking East African entrepreneurs with projects in the early stage to apply to become part of our second cohort of #Insiders4Good Fellows.
To participate in the #Insiders4Good East Africa Fellowship, applicants must be:
- Registered members of the Windows Insider Program (sign up at: insider.windows.com);
- Legal residents of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania or Uganda, aged 18 and over;
- Have an idea, or a business, for a product or service in the early stage that will improve the lives of East African people;
- The product or service cannot have been selected as a winner in any contest or sweepstakes.
Twenty-five entrepreneurs will be selected and will receive:
- A premier suite of Windows hardware and software, and
- A 6-month mentorship program that will be kicked off by a special one-week learning event for Fellows and mentors. The 6-month mentorship will include tailored technical and strategic mentorship from local and international leaders to help raise the Fellows’ unique idea to the next level.
Application Deadline is March 31st.
To learn more and apply for this exciting opportunity, please check here.
Post and photo credits: Microsoft Winsiders Website
Apply for Stanford Seed’s East Africa Transformation Program
The Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (Seed) seeks innovative and growth-oriented leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based in East Africa.
Seed’s highly interactive Transformation Program challenges SME leaders to assess their vision, redefine their strategies, and make ambitious changes toward exponential growth.
The program is designed to expose SME leaders to:
- Core business skills such as accounting, finance, marketing, operations, corporate governance, organizational design, strategy, and more
- Applied skills such as negotiation, teamwork, leadership, and pitching
- Approaches to product design and prototyping
- Prominent executives and corporate, venture, and angel investors who participate as guest speakers, expert panelists, and business mentors
Participants attend four intensive sessions over a six month period.
Additional program benefits include:
- Local and regional peer networks—designed to enrich the educational experience and build relationships across borders and industries
- Eligibility to apply for a Stanford Seed coach upon completion of the program
Program Eligibility:
Applicants must demonstrate commitment and potential to grow and scale their companies, thereby creating jobs, products, or services that benefit those living in poverty.
- Applicants must be founders/senior leaders of for-profit companies.
- Applicants must lead organizations with an annual revenue range between$150,000 USD and $15 million USD.
- Applicant’s company must be headquartered, legally registered, and currently operating within East Africa.
- Applicant must have English language proficiency.
- Previously, SME leaders working in the following sectors have participated agriculture/food processing, construction, civil engineering, real estate, education, energy, financial services, healthcare, information and communications technologies (ICT), retail/product manufacturing, transportation/logistics, and water and sanitation. Other sectors can qualify for admittance.
Program Fees
The Program fee for the May 2016 cohort is $1,500 USD.
Deadline
The application deadline is January 15, 2016, midnight East Africa Time (EAT). Please review all details carefully before applying.
For additional information on the Transformation Program, please visit Seed East Africa site.
Questions? Please contact: dalbohm@stanford.edu
Ampion Opens Applications For Its Road Trip Showcasing African Tech
Venture Buses are driving through 14 countries all across Africa
This year five Ampion Venture Buses will cross 14 African countries. Each tour is a 7-day full-immersion program for developing entrepreneurial skills and creating new ventures in a team-based competition set on a bus. Venture Buses run in East, West, North and Southern Africa. The Ampion Venture Bus will come to Morocco for the first time. Each Venture Bus tour culminates at a Grand Final, incorporated within the continent’s most renowned tech conferences such as DEMO Africa (Nigeria), AfricaCom (South Africa) and the Transform Africa Summit (Rwanda). Along the road, the Venture Bus and its participants visit all major tech- and startup-communities within each region to hold local events, getting in touch with thousands of Africa’s most promising IT talents. „We believe, home-grown entrepreneurship and startups tackling social needs are the best way to sustainable growth on the continent“, says Ampion CEO Fabian Guhl.
Visiting Africa’s tech markets to build new companies
In the frame of five major final events all across Africa, startups are pitched to leading companies, investors as well as the hosting countries’ ministers such as Rwandan Minister of Youth and ICT Jean Philbert Nsengimana. In the first two years of the Ampion Venture Bus program, over 30 African tech startups emerged, providing ICT solutions to issues in healthcare, education, fin-tech, public transport, citizen engagement, tourism, water sanitation and much more. 40 new companies are expected to come out of the Venture Buses 2015. Last year Ampion received applications from more than 2000 applicants from 43 countries. In 2015, in its third year, the organization is expecting yet another boost of applications.
Innovations in modern banking, e-health and more – still open for partners
This year Ampion is partnering up with corporate and public partners to set a focus on selected topics on each Venture Bus. Experts will advise the entrepreneurs along the way and potentially facilitate investment by their company into the developed startups. The focus in the regions will be:
Tunisia: female empowerment – ‘females only’ Venture Bus
East Africa: e-health, fin-tech and governance
West Africa: e-health, fin-tech and governance
Southern Africa: hardware & agriculture
While these Venture Buses will have one or more topical focus each, the development of startups in other sectors is still possible on every Venture Bus.
Halt Ebola and sterio.me – finding innovative solutions to local challenges
One of the winners of the Venture Bus programs 2014 is Halt Ebola – an app enabling rural population to receive and exchange vital healthcare information through voice messages and robo-calls in their tribal language. Another startup already active since 2013 is sterio.me. The service enables teachers to transmit and learners to receive homework and learning material via free sms, making education more easily accessible in rural areas.
Background Information
Business developers, coders or designers can now apply for the Ampion Venture Buses 2015, running from September to December. Highly skilled experts in specific topics (like healthcare, education, banking, public transport and more) may also apply should they be interested in launching a startup in their field of work.
Specific Information
Selected senior mentors and investors are also welcome to join the bus, please contact applications@ampion.org to find out more.
Apply here and Find more information here.
About Ampion
AMPION is the leading pan-African entrepreneurship initiative to enable young Africans to start ICT companies, creating considerable social and economic impact. AMPION organizes 7-day Venture Bus programs accompanied by international mentors and followed by an extensive incubation program. Ampion is winner of the “Global Innovation Ecosystem Award 2015” as well as the “Pan African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2014”. Corporate supporters of the Ampion programs are and have been, among others, Microsoft, SAP, MTN and Merck.
About the Venture Bus
The Venture Bus journeys connect entrepreneurial talent with international investors. The program brought some of Africa’s most innovative companies to life, over 30 tech-centered startups emerged from the Ampion Venture Buses thus far – among them companies such as sterio.me, MobiDawa and Halt!Ebola. The Venture Bus follows a refined program, implementing design thinking methods to support the startup development process with HPI & Stanford trained facilitators.
Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa
IEEE and the Institute of Physics (IOP) are jointly organising the 2014 workshop “Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa ” to be held at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies from 3-7 December.
VENUE AND DATE
Kenya School of Monetary Studies, Kenya, 3–7 December 2014
OBJECTIVES
This one-week intensive workshop is designed for scientists and engineers from different parts of East Africa who are interested in learning entrepreneurial skills to commercialise their scientific inventions. Participants will benefit from the international perspective and profitable insights of leading experts and fellow delegates from the East Africa region and the rest of the world.
PURPOSES AND NATURE
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce scientists and engineers in the region to the process of innovation, generation and protection of intellectual property, technology transfer and commercialisation of inventions. The workshop will consist of lectures by invited speakers, case studies, group discussions and role-playing sessions related to the commercialisation of products.
TOPICS COVERED
Scientists and Engineers as Entrepreneurs; Opportunity and Value Assessment; Intellectual Property (IP); Basics of Patenting; IP Management and Global IP Protection; Business Plan Fundamentals, Technology Readiness Levels, Invention to Product: Timelines and Processes; Case Studies and Group Projects.
PARTICIPATION
Scientists and students throughout the East African region are welcome to attend the workshop. All sessions and talks will be conducted in English, so participants should have a good working knowledge of the language. Although the main purpose of the workshop is to help young scientists and engineers, aspiring students and other innovators are also welcome to apply.
Participants will be expected to cover their costs of transportation to the venue.
A registration fee of $250 will be charged to defray the cost of accommodation.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
To participate at the event, complete the application form here.
The application deadline is October 31, 2014.
AITEC East Africa ICT SUMMIT 2013 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Applications have been invited for the Innovation Challenge to be held at this year’s AITEC East Africa ICT Summit at Oshwal Centre over 20 – 21 November. AITEC has partnered with @iLabAfrica to host the Challenge at the Summit to provide a platform for innovators to showcase their products and compete for awards.
Developers and start-ups are invited to submit applications to make innovation presentations in the following sectors:
- Health
- Education
- Agriculture
- Financial Services
- Government/Public Service
- Transport and Logistics
The top three innovations in each category, as judged by an independent panel of judges drawn from industry leaders, will be awarded a four-month incubation period at @iBizAfrica, the business incubation Centre at @iLabAfrica. Up to three team members for each winning innovation will be included in the project.
Dr Joseph Sevilla, the Director of @iLabAfrica, welcomed the opportunity to identify and develop new talent and product ideas, “We are delighted to be partnering with AITEC for the Innovation Challenge. There is a huge amount of talent with innovative ideas across East Africa and we want to first of all identify the most promising and then help them develop their ideas to a level where they can take them to market on a sound technological and business basis.”
Innovators wanting to enter the Challenge should submit their application at http://bit.ly/16PwBzs
The deadline for submission is 1st November 2013.
@iLabAfrica 